Spurs-Aston Villa Preview: The Tim Sherwood Derby
And so closeth the second chapter of Tim Sherwood’s managerial career. The Villa Years. All eight months of them. Another whirlwind dynasty of straight-talking, guts and a gradual descent into visible, unshaven despair.
His stock might be at an irrecoverable low right now, but in many ways, it would be fun if Tim found his way back into the Premier League again. Sure, at first his methods might seem a little base and unrefined and you obviously wouldn’t want him managing the club you support, but soon you come to realise that this sanitized world of top-flight football is a much drearier place without Tim Sherwood. From a safe, unattached distance, he’s pure box-office.
Any Villa fans reading this, it might not feel like it now, but you’ll appreciate his value in time to come. Maybe he’ll rock up at Coventry City in January. Maybe he’ll mark his first home game by handing out noogies to Sky Blue Sam and playing Joe Cole at the base of an adventurous back-three. Maybe then you’ll think wow, we really had something there.
We’ve all got our favourite memories of Sherwood. Mine was on the last day of the 2013/14 season. While the death rattle of his first managerial job was sounding and the serious business of him getting fired loomed ever closer, Tim used his final minutes as Spurs boss to, well, d*ck about, really. One overly vocal dissenter was hit with the full force of Tim’s banter as he was hooked from the stands and plonked in the dug next to Les Ferdinand, like it was the most natural thing in the world. He offered him his trademark gilet as a souvenir.
Up yours, he said to the rulebook before sending the fan back to his seat again.
Even as his world was crumbling in around him, Sherwood didn’t ever forget he had a bloody audience to entertain. Say what you will about his lack of strategy or brain-thumping personnel choices, his commitment to his public remains unsurpassed. Would you want him as your team’s manager? Not likely. Is he a decent football geezer and reason alone to tune into MOTD on a Saturday night, to see what unhinged antics he’ll be up to next? A thousand times yes.
For all his tactical silliness, Sherwood did find some areas in which his skills could be put to good use. In both his brief stewardships, he proved he had a certain gift for one-to-one man-management. Tickling decent performances out of a young, hungry Christian Benteke is one thing, to somehow manage the same trick with Emmanuel Adebayor, a man who often radiates the air of someone who hates football, is quite another.
A number of well-respected managers have failed to pique the Togolese firebrand’s interest for anything longer than a couple of months, but it’s clearly one area in which Sherwood succeeded. He even had that whole touchline salute routine going with him, which, while a massive shame, at least showed that he had faith in Brand Tim.
And so to this evening’s fixture. Whatever the future of Timothy Alan Sherwood, the general feeling among Spurs fans is that Aston Villa have sacked him a game too early. Not limited to the principle that any team managed by him would be a damn sight easier to overcome than one that wasn’t, once again Spurs find themselves in the position of facing a side looking to impress an incoming manager. Liverpool and now Aston Villa.
Remi Garde is the new man about town and how fitting a narrative it would be if the ex-Arsenal man were able to motivate his new side from the stands. This has got Tottenham 0-1 Aston Villa (Gestede 54’) written all over it. Fifth place awaits if we can mark the post-Sherwood era with a loss for Villa.
